Wednesday’s “What’s God been teaching me?” #10
Wow. Did I ever have a revelation today! Today I ate lunch with my good friend Ross, and I asked him a difficult question. I asked him, “What are my faults and in what areas do I suck?” To my surprise, Ross had a handful of things to say. Yikes! Moreover, I know he is right. There are some things about myself that have been coming up every now and then that I don’t like. Some things have hurt others, and I need to make it right.
From more then one person I realize that I have a reputation of being a “know-it-all”. It’s frustrating because I don’t want to be a “know-it-all” but I seem to have an opinion on almost everything and generally I feel like I am right. Maybe I just think too much and that’s why I come across that way. It’s really weird to think about it. I can imagine how I could turn people off if I come across like that. And now that I think about it, there is so much that I don’t know! Of all the knowledge to be had in the universe, I’d be far too generous to say I knew 1%. I think I really need to work at humbling myself when it comes to this. I’m sorry if I’ve come across like this to any of you and I would hope that you would help me to destroy this ugly attitude that I’ve had. If I come across like this, even if you know I mean well, don’t be afraid to just tell me, “Josh, that comes across really bad. You’re coming across like you know it all again.” Knowing my faults and mistakes is important to me, because I want to learn from them.
Another thing that came up today was how I come across as a judgmental person. Eeew…gross. While I may not say things like “I’m better than you because you…”, and to be honest I don’t think like that either, people seem to get that feeling around me. I really don’t think any less of people because they struggle or because they don’t act like I do. I hope you guys don’t get a feeling that I have things all together or that I don’t struggle like you do. Honestly, my life is messy, and I struggle with the same things you do. I know I need to work on an attitude of humility in the way I look at people. Again, if you catch me being judgmental, or coming across as judgmental, then please let me know!
Along the same lines is something I refer to generally as standards. I hold to a lot of standards that aren’t Biblical like not watching TV, not drinking pop, listening to only certain kinds of music, etc…There’s a lot and I don’t have time to list them all. These are just my own personal standards for life. I don’t expect other people to live the way I do, and I don’t think that it’s wrong not to live by these standards. That’s just the way I choose to organize my life. I don’t think drinking pop or watching TV is a sin, I just don’t really care for it myself. It doesn’t turn my crank. I know I have been guilty of pushing my own personal standards on others, like Ross, and I realize that it’s wrong. I hope you guys don’t feel turned off just because you don’t measure up to my standards, because there is only one set of standards that counts, and that’s God’s standards. None of us measure up to His standards, and he still accepts us and loves us for the sinners that we are. As long as the standards we choose for ourselves don’t conflict with God’s standards we are free to make them whatever we want.
Lastly, Ross helped me to realize I am too blunt. It’s weird because I like people to be blunt and to the point with me, but not everyone is like that. I need to work on not being blunt like a senile old lady, because often times, as Ross has pointed out to me, my bluntness has hurt him or others. I am really sorry for those of you who have experienced this from my mouth. I plan to work on this too, and any help is welcomed, because I know that this could already be a habit, engrained in my brain.
Wow…look at me…what a mess! I have a lot to work on, and I know I can’t do it alone. From now on I plan to focus hard at yielding to the Holy Spirit’s leading in each moment to destroy the bad attitudes and habits that I have. Kind of a heavy, I know, but that’s what God taught me today.
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
God bless you all!
Your brother in Christ,
Joshua
From more then one person I realize that I have a reputation of being a “know-it-all”. It’s frustrating because I don’t want to be a “know-it-all” but I seem to have an opinion on almost everything and generally I feel like I am right. Maybe I just think too much and that’s why I come across that way. It’s really weird to think about it. I can imagine how I could turn people off if I come across like that. And now that I think about it, there is so much that I don’t know! Of all the knowledge to be had in the universe, I’d be far too generous to say I knew 1%. I think I really need to work at humbling myself when it comes to this. I’m sorry if I’ve come across like this to any of you and I would hope that you would help me to destroy this ugly attitude that I’ve had. If I come across like this, even if you know I mean well, don’t be afraid to just tell me, “Josh, that comes across really bad. You’re coming across like you know it all again.” Knowing my faults and mistakes is important to me, because I want to learn from them.
Another thing that came up today was how I come across as a judgmental person. Eeew…gross. While I may not say things like “I’m better than you because you…”, and to be honest I don’t think like that either, people seem to get that feeling around me. I really don’t think any less of people because they struggle or because they don’t act like I do. I hope you guys don’t get a feeling that I have things all together or that I don’t struggle like you do. Honestly, my life is messy, and I struggle with the same things you do. I know I need to work on an attitude of humility in the way I look at people. Again, if you catch me being judgmental, or coming across as judgmental, then please let me know!
Along the same lines is something I refer to generally as standards. I hold to a lot of standards that aren’t Biblical like not watching TV, not drinking pop, listening to only certain kinds of music, etc…There’s a lot and I don’t have time to list them all. These are just my own personal standards for life. I don’t expect other people to live the way I do, and I don’t think that it’s wrong not to live by these standards. That’s just the way I choose to organize my life. I don’t think drinking pop or watching TV is a sin, I just don’t really care for it myself. It doesn’t turn my crank. I know I have been guilty of pushing my own personal standards on others, like Ross, and I realize that it’s wrong. I hope you guys don’t feel turned off just because you don’t measure up to my standards, because there is only one set of standards that counts, and that’s God’s standards. None of us measure up to His standards, and he still accepts us and loves us for the sinners that we are. As long as the standards we choose for ourselves don’t conflict with God’s standards we are free to make them whatever we want.
Lastly, Ross helped me to realize I am too blunt. It’s weird because I like people to be blunt and to the point with me, but not everyone is like that. I need to work on not being blunt like a senile old lady, because often times, as Ross has pointed out to me, my bluntness has hurt him or others. I am really sorry for those of you who have experienced this from my mouth. I plan to work on this too, and any help is welcomed, because I know that this could already be a habit, engrained in my brain.
Wow…look at me…what a mess! I have a lot to work on, and I know I can’t do it alone. From now on I plan to focus hard at yielding to the Holy Spirit’s leading in each moment to destroy the bad attitudes and habits that I have. Kind of a heavy, I know, but that’s what God taught me today.
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
God bless you all!
Your brother in Christ,
Joshua
posted by Joshua at 4:00 PM
8 Comments:
ok, so we all stink at life. but isn't it amazing that we have a creator that forgives us for everything that we do and think! I'm not saying that we should not work on our bad areas, but we should find hope in the fact that God will help us get through them and they also keep us humble when we get too high and mighty.
I'm glad that I could help you.. hehe. Next time you can tell me all the things about me that suck. Tell me what you hate.. look at me with angst and lay down some constructive criticism. There won't be any because i'm so perfect. ... "I hate that you are full of yourself!!" - anonymous.
Ok, ill work on that... Bah!
Woot!Woot! I agree that we suck! Ha. Josh, I don't think that it is a bad thing to be a Know-it-all! The key thing is to try and be that way with "gentleness and respect." And actually I like when people talk blunt to me as long as they are right and I respect them, so Josh be as blunt as you want to me!
Matthew 18:15-17
"If your brother" or sister "sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to lisen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."
You could probably do this even without the other person sining against you, maybe if you just want to strengthen the other persons relationship with God by showing something that they may have not noticed was keeping them from God before. I think that you should be able to do this with anyone you are close to, but make sure you show "gentleness and respect" and you have the word of God to back you up! The word of God is key or else you have nothing to fall back on!
Josh thank you for reshowing us what we need to be doing!
Sorry that that was so long!
Wow, you guys are quick at applying this to your own lives! Well, I don't want you guys to get the general idea that we all suck at life, because that's a really discouraging way of looking at things. Like you said, Kara, "we should find hope in the fact that God will help us get through them and they also keep us humble." But, I do know that some of my suckiness has hurt others, and I wanted to apologize to those people.
Thanks for the post, Josh! It is REALLY encouraging to know that our group can be so open with each other about things like this. Personally, I find my weaknesses are especially hard to talk about, but still God tells us that we should boast about them.
During the past week in particular I feel like I've been hit with the word of God (in a good way) more than usual. He has been revealing to me various things that are keeping me from getting in a deeper relationship with Him, including the ways of my personality.
Guys, I really really hope that I don't come across as someone who knows all the answers (although being fairly knowledgeable isn't a bad thing either). I definitely don't know it all. Especially after I lead prayer time then I sometimes wonder if I'm seeming to come across as someone who likes to talk because I think I know everything. I don't know everything there is to know about anything. Yeah, you read me, I know nothing (well, I guess I know a little bit of stuff, but I have A LOT to learn).
Anyway, that's me typing to you about what's going on in my heart. Sorry about making this comment kinda long. One thing kinda led to another when I was typing. God Bless.
know it all! haha...juust joking...
Josh was trying to apologize and ask for you guys to help him in areas of his life. He wasn't speaking about how we all suck. He just wanted to share his suck with everyone.PERIOD.
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